Apparatus for severing and printing records



1963 A. MUHLBACH ETAL 3,115,827

APPARATUS FOR SEVERING AND PRINTING RECORDS Filed Nov. 9, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent M 3,115,827 APPARATUS FOR SEVERING AND PRINTING RECURDS Anton Miihlbaeh, Frankfurt am Main Nied, and Josef Schildt, Buderich, near Dusseldorf, Germany, assignors to A. Kimball Company, Brooklyn, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Nov. 9, 1960, Ser. No. 68,203 Claims priority, application Germany Nov. 21, 1959 3 Clahns. (Cl. 10190) This invention relates to devices for severing and printing records. More particularly the preferred embodiment of the invention is directed to a device for severing and printing records in the form of merchandise tags having locating holes in each of two or more identical sections.

The device illustrated herein is particularly useful in merchandising establishments for marking one section of the tag with an indication of the sale for customer use, for simultaneously marking another section of the tag with point of sale information such as clerk and department numbers and for severing and stacking this section in a container for subsequent processing. It is particularly important that the severed sections of the tags be cut in accurate relation to the locating holes therein and stacked in proper sequence and positional relationship to facilitate subsequent transfer to a data processing machine.

Accordingly, it is a general object of the invention to provide a device having the above desirable characteristics. According to one feature of the invention, the device is provided with means including pins which engage the locating holes in the tag for register of the tag sections with the severing and printing means. Another feature provides that the severing and printing means are operable only after the tag has been registered by said pins. A further feature of the invention provides means preventing withdrawal of the tag from the device until all operations have been performed thereon. This latter feature provides a safeguard against fraud by ensuring that at least one section of the tag is severed and retained in the device before the customer section can be removed.

To the above ends and in accordance with other features of the invention the device is provided with a support which is exposed for placement thereon of a tag having at least two sections. The support is movable into the device where it is locked automatically in a position where the locating holes of the tag are aligned with a plurality of locating pins. The pins are moved into the locating holes to register the tag sections accurately with the severing and printing means. The operating means for the severing and printing means are effective only after the locating pins have moved to a predetermined position through the locating holes in the tag. When registered by the locating pins, the tag section to be severed is aligned with an opening leading to a container in which the section is to be stacked. While this section of the tag is being printed a slide covers the opening to support the tag against the action of the printing means, the slide thereafter being moved to uncover the opening while the severing means is operating to allow passage of the severed section. After the tag has been printed and severed the locking means for the support is released whereupon the support returns to its exposed position for removal of one section of the printed tag for customer use.

The above and other features of the invention including various novel details of construction and combinations of parts will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings and thereafter pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a side elevation partly in section with the tag support in its initial position;

3,il5,827 Patented Dec. 31, 1963 FIG. 2 is a section along the line IIII of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section along the line HIIII of FIG. 1 but with the tag support moved into the device;

FIG. 4 is a view substantially similar to FIG. 1 showing the position of the tools after printing;

FIG. 5 is a section on the line VV of FIG. 3 in which the locking means for the support and the locating pins are in raised positions; and

FIG. 6 is a section along the line VI-VI of FIG. 3 with the locking means for the support in its lowered position.

The illustrative device embodying the present invention is adapted to operate on a two-part merchandise tag T (FIG. 2), each part having information impressed thereon in positions accurately located with respect to a plurality of locating holes. As will be described both sections of the tag are further impressed with indicia which may indicate that a transaction represented by the tag is completed such as by marking the section of the tag to be retrieved with the notation paid and by marking the other section which is to be retained in a locked receptacle with indicia indicating the clerk or department handling the transaction. While the device is shown as adapted to handle a two-part tag it should be apparent from the following description that the device could also be adapted to handle tags having more than two parts without departing from the scope of the invention.

The two-part tag unit T is placed between the legs of a U-shaped yoke 1 which in its initial position, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, projects from the device in an exposed position corresponding generally to the over-all tag width. The legs 2 and 3 of the yoke are guided for movement in bores of a central member 4 fixed to the vertical side frames of the device. A table 5 secured to the lower side of the yoke 1 serves as a partial support for the tag and is provided with a handle 6 for moving the yoke into and out of the device. The mounted tag, as seen in FIG. 2, is registered on the table in three directions by the yoke 1.

At its entry side the central member 4 has an enlarged recess 7 adapted to receive the tag and a second recess which is located somewhat lower and in which a guide plate 8 is secured by means of screws 9. Immediately behind the guide plate 8 the central member is provided with a rectangular opening 10 to allow passage of a severed tag section into a tag box 11. Movable in a slot provided in the central member 4 is a stepped slide 12 having a slot 13 which receives a control lever 14. The fork shaped lower end of the lever 14 engages a block 15 which pivots about a pin 16 in the slot 13 (FIGS. 1, 2 and 4). To retain the slide 12 a cover 17 is secured to the member 4 by means of screws 19, the cover being provided with a longitudinal slot 18 (FIG. 3) through which the control lever 14 extends.

A block 20 having vertical bores is secured to the side frames above the fixed central member 4. Mounted in the bores for vertical movement are the cylindrical portions of the tools which operate to locate, print and sever the tag parts; the tools being controlled by levers and earns presently to be described. Upon the introduction of the two-part tag into the device, as will be de scribed more in detail below, the tag is registered with the tools by means of several positioning or register pins 21 (FIGS. 1, 4 and 5) adapted to be received in orienting holes 22 in the two connected tag sections of the tag T. The pins 21 are mounted in a plate 23 secured to a cylindrical shaft 24 in one of the bores in the block 20. The upper end of the shaft 24 is connected by a pin 25 to one arm of multi-arm lever 27 having another arm which cooperates with a cam 28. The plate 23 is held in its upper position as seen in FIG. 1, against the action of a spring 31 by means of a locking arm 29 acting on another arm of the lever 27 through a roll 3%). The plate 23 is also guided by a cylindrical pin 32 depending from the block 2% to prevent rotation of the plate and displacement of the pins 21 secured thereon. A locking pin 33: (FIGS. 3, 5 and 6) is attached to the plate 23 by means of a nut 34 for engagement with a bore 35 (see also FIG. 2) of the leg 3 as soon as the yoke l with its twopart tag has been moved into the device and the plate 23 with its pins has been moved downward by the spring 31 upon the release of the locking lever 2?. At this time the locking pin 33 engages in the bore 35 and locks the yoke ll against movement during the further operation of the device to prevent the removal of the tag before the subsequent operations have been completed.

During the introduction of the tag positioned in the yoke, into the device from the position shown in FIG. 1 to the position in FlG. 3, the unsupported front end of the tag is, should it be somewhat creased, deflected downward by a roll 45 (FIGS. 1 and 5) so that it can readily be introduced to the guide plate 3 within a space R formed by the lower side of a plate 36 and a surface 48 of the slide 12. During the final movement of the yoke, the front face 49 (FIGS. 1, 2 and 4) of the leg 3 on the yoke engages an adjustable screw 5% in a bell crank 51 the upper or locking arm 29 of which in its initial position, as seen in FIG. 1, locks the lever 27 through the roll 30. Thus, during the final movement of the yoke l the bell crank lever 51 is moved clockwise against the tension of a spring 52 until it engages a fixed abutment 53. In this position, seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the bore 35 in the leg 3 is aligned with the locking pin 33. Movement of the lever 51 as above described moves the locking arm 29 below the roll 3t} so that the lever 27 is released and under the control of the spring 31 moves the plate 2 3 downward through the pin 25 and the shaft 24. In this manner the yoke 1 is locked against movement before the pins 21 have entered the holes 22 of the tag T, the pins 21 being somewhat shorter than the pin 33 (FlGS. 5 and 6). If the tag is properly registered in the yoke, the pins 21 enter the holes 22 of the tag insuring accurate register of the tag for subsequent operations. Downward movement of the pins 21 and 23 is terminated as soon as the left arm of the lever 27 engages the low point of the cam 23. However, if the tag is not positioned properly in the yoke, the pins 21 will not be aligned with the locating holes 22 in the tag and hence the downward movement of the plate 23 and lever 27 will be stopped by the pins 21 engaging solid portions of the tag. Thus, the final motion of the lever 27 can be used to control initiation of the subsequent operations to be performed on the tag. These operations which include printing and severing the tag are effected by earns 28, 39, 56 and 66 fixed on a shaft 55 (FIGS. 1 and 4).

Means for rotating the cam shaft 55 are not shown in the drawings but may be of any suitable type, either manually or power operated, the operation of which can be initiated by movement of the lever 27 into its final position seen in FIG. 4. Thus, if the tag is properly positioned the cam shaft 55 is rotated in the direction of the arrow (FIG. 1) after the pins 21 have registered the tag, the shaft automatically stopping after one revolution to terminate the operation of the device. Rotation of the shaft 55 effects, first of all, the operation of a twoarm lever 57 by means of the cam 56. The lever 57 acts on the upper end of a shaft 60 through a pin 58 to move a stamp 43 downward against the tension of a spring 61, the lever also acting on a pin 59 projecting from a stamp rod 44. The stamp 43 marks the appropriate tag section paid and the stamp 44 impresses the section to be severed with indicia identifying the transaction, both stamps then being immediately raised again by spring action controlled by the cam 56. The surface 48 of the slide 12 supports the tag against the action of the stamp 44, the slide thereafter being retracted by means of the control lever 14 and the cam 66. The slide 12, which previously covered the rectangular opening of the central member 4, now exposes the opening for the passage of the tag section to be severed.

Below the plate 23 and aligned with the opening 10 there is provided a cutting plate 36 (FIGS. 1 and 4) likewise mounted in the block 2% by means of a guide pin 37 and held in its upper position by a tension spring 33. This upper position is determined by the cam 39 and a two-arm lever 4t controlled by the cam. Rotation of the cam 39 moves the plate 36 down so that a cutting edge 41 on the plate cooperates with a cutting anvil &2 on the plate 8 to sever the tag. Continued movement of the plate 36 moves the severed tag section through the opening it) of the central member 4 and into the tag box 11. Provided within the tag box is a brake member 77 (FIGS. 4 and 6) held in any heightwise position by pins 73 engaging the edge of the tag box under he pressure of springs 79. With the introduction of the severed tag sections from above, the member 77 is moved downward to an extent determined by the thickness of each tag. Upon withdrawal of the plate 36 from the opening it) all of the other tools and the plate 23 are automatically returned to their initial positions. Upward movement of the plate 23 unlocks the yoke 1 which with the canceled customer tag section is moved outward to its initial position by means of a spring 63 (FIG. 2) until an enlarged portion 64 on the yoke leg 2 strikes the end of a bore 65. The portion 64 which simultaneously acts as a piston moves in the enlarged cylindrical portion 65 of the bore for the yoke leg 2 so that a normal compression of air occurs within the space, its compression preventing an abrupt outward movement of the table. The cashier can now readily remove the canceled customer tag section from the table.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as novel and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a device for printing and severing records provided with locating holes, printing means, severing means, means mounting said printing means and said severing means for movements into and out of engagement with a record which has been properly registered with respect thereto, locating pins engageable with the holes in the record for locating the record in a single predetermined operative position with respect to both the printing means and the severing means, a support movable from an exposed position suitable for placement of a record thereon to an inserted position within the device for registering the record with said pins in said single predetermined operative position, means for engaging said pins in the locating holes of the record for registering the record with the printing means and the severing means, cooperating means provided on said support and said mounting means for locking said support in said inserted position, said cooperating means comprising a projection and a recess for receiving said projection, means for thereafter operating said printing means and severing means with said record located in said single predetermined operative position.

2. In a device for printing and severing records provided with locating holes, printing means, severing means, means mounting said printing means and said severing means for movements into and out of engagement with a record which has been properly registered with respect thereto, locating pins engageable with the holes in the record for locating the record in a predetermined operative position with respect to the printing means and the severing means, a support for placement of a record thereon and movable to a position within the device for registering the record with said pins, means for locking the support in said position, means effective after said support is locked for engaging the locating pins with the locating holes of the record for registering the record with the severing means and the printing means, means effective after the locating pins have engaged said tag for operating the severing means and the printing means,

means for unlocking said support after the operation of the severing means and the printing means, and means for returning said support to its exposed position.

3. In a device for printing and severing records provided with locating holes, means for severing a portion of a record at a position accurately located with respect to the locating holes, means for printing on said portion, means for operating said printing means, means defining an opening adapted to receive said portion after severing, a slide covering said opening for supporting said portion against the action of the printing means, means for mov- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,874,816 Shipley Aug. 20, 1932 2,189,027 Fuller Feb. 6, 1940 2,754,751 Marsh et al July 17, 1956 2,931,291 Hopp Apr. 5, 1960 

1. IN A DEVICE FOR PRINTING AND SEVERING RECORDS PROVIDED WITH LOCATING HOLES, PRINTING MEANS, SEVERING MEANS MEANS MOUNTING SAID PRINTING MEANS AND SAID SEVERING MEANS FOR MOVEMENTS INTO AND OUT OF ENGAGEMENT WITH A RECORD WHICH HAS BEEN PROPERLY REGISTERED WITH RESPECT THERETO, LOCATING PINS ENGAGEABLE WITH THE HOLES IN THE RECORD FOR LOCATING THE RECORD IN A SINGLE PREDETERMINED OPERATIVE POSITION WITH RESPECT TO BOTH THE PRINTING MEANS AND THE SEVERING MEANS, A SUPPORT MOVABLE FROM AN EXPOSED POSITION SUITABLE FOR PLACEMENT OF A RECORD THEREON TO AN INSERTED POSITION WITHIN THE DEVICE FOR REGISTERING THE RECORD WITH SAID PINS IN SAID SINGLE PREDETERMINED OPERATIVE POSITION, MEANS FOR ENGAGING SAID PINS IN THE LOCATING HOLES OF THE RECORD FOR REGISTERING THE RECORD WITH THE PRINTING MEANS AND THE SEVERING MEANS, COOPERATING MEANS PROVIDED ON SAID SUPPORT AND SAID MOUNTING MEANS FOR LOCKING SAID SUPPORT IN SAID INSERTED POSITION, SAID COOPERATING MEANS COMPRISING A PROJECTION AND A RECESS FOR RECEIVING SAID PROJECTION, MEANS FOR THEREAFTER OPERATING SAID PRINTING MEANS AND SEVERING MEANS WITH SAID RECORD LOCATED IN SAID SINGLE PREDETERMINED OPERATIVE POSITION. 